


Worth It

by nebulera



Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon)
Genre: First Dates, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-11 20:06:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15323271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nebulera/pseuds/nebulera
Summary: Steve is beginning to have a bad track record of first dates.





	Worth It

Steve’s shield makes a clang when it bounces off the temple of one of the three dressed up goons in the middle of the street. The clueless guy falls immediately, the leader turning on Steve surprised, and he braces the shield in front of him to block the blast of whatever weapon he’s aiming. The leader— who seems to be calling himself The Sledgehammer—

 

“What a terrible name,” Tony had said as he flew Steve and himself down from the tower to where the commotion was happening. Common criminals trying to be big names, they assumed. Regardless, it seemed like the civilians around them couldn’t care less as they walked right on by. Typical day in New York City. Steve chuckled. “Costume is tacky too,” Tony continued. “I mean of all colors, purple and yellow, seriously?”

 

“We’re trying to stop these guys, Tony, not host an episode of Project Runway.”

 

“Surprised you know even know what that is, Cap.”

 

The leader’s blast at Steve bounces back at himself and strikes his leg, causing him to scream and sink to his knees and dropping his weapon. Steve kicks it away. Easy. The last goon, the one with the least extravagant costume turns to run in the opposite direction and upon hearing the sound of flight stabilizer overhead, Steve lets him. As expected, Iron Man flies down and lands in the man’s path, causing the goon to freeze. “Where do you think you’re going?” Tony asks with an amused tone, raising his repulsor and wiggling the fingers of his gauntlet.

 

Steve smiles at the smoothness of Tony’s voice before he looks down at the poor purple and yellow-dressed leader and raises his shield. “Surrender?”

 

The Sledgehammer--god Steve wants to laugh at that name--looks at his defeaten comrades and sighs in defeat, raising his hands. “What kinda idiot tries to fight Captain America and wins?”

 

Tony chuckles. “Who says criminals can’t be smart?”

 

When the three stumblers are taken into custody, Tony flies the two of them back to the tower like usual. While Tony’s arms are wrapped under Steve’s pits, hands gripping his shoulders, Steve says, “You know, I could have handled them alone.”

 

“Oh, could you now?” Tony says as they land on the tower’s balcony and walk inside.

 

“Yes. They were practically tripping over their own feet back there.”

 

“Sure you wouldn’t have needed me to sweep in and save you?”

 

Steve huffs a laugh. “In your dreams, Shellhead.”

 

“I know, Cap, I’m pulling your leg,” Tony says, as they walk down the hall to the elevator where Steve would hopefully be joining Tony in his lab. He’s done it countless amount of times whether it was to keep Tony company or to preoccupy himself with his hobbies while Tony tinkered in the background. Tony never kicked him out, never asked questions. Steve liked his presence. Maybe a little too much.

 

“I’m well aware you could’ve taken those guys blindfolded with an arm tied behind your back,” Tony continues, taking off the suit’s helmet and then his gauntlets. “Maybe I just wanted to spend some quality time with you.”

 

“Quality time? It’s barely eleven in the morning and we were taking out bad guys.”

 

Entering the lab, Tony says, “Any time is a good time. Even if we get a little dirty.”

 

Steve chuckles, pushes his cowl back and runs a hand through his hair. He watches as Tony’s armor flies from his body to its resting place across the room, eyes Tony’s back, his relaxed form, and before he realizes he’s even saying it, “Maybe I could show you nicer.”

 

Tony turns his head to eye at Steve, raising a questioning brow. He goes over to lean against one of the worktables.

 

“Are you busy tonight?” Steve asks.

 

“Other than the usual, no not really.”

 

Steve means to ask the question but he finds it harder than he presumed, because he’s pictured himself saying it so many time only this time he’s actually here with Tony. No room for error. “Then… would you like to have dinner with me?”

 

Tony watches him for a long few seconds, like he’s detecting Steve’s body for harm, or rather trying to see how nervous he really is. And he is. Very nervous. “Steve,” Tony inquires. “Are you asking me on a date?”

 

Steve smiles, reaches us to cup the back of his neck while his other hand rests on his hip. “Yes?” He lets his gaze fall somewhere to Tony’s right.

 

“I’m in.”

 

Steve looks up hurriedly. “You—really?”

 

“Yeah! What time?”

 

Oh. He hadn’t really thought that far. “I can pick you up at seven-thirty?”

 

“Okay, it’s a date,” Tony says, and Steve is so happy he could fall over. “Oh! Casual or fancy?”

 

With a certain idea floating around his head, he says, “Casual. Or as casual as Tony Stark can be on night out.”

 

“You know me too well, Cap,” Tony says, then looking at Steve gently. “Hopefully you’ll know me better.”

 

Steve leaves the workshop earlier than he was expecting with a too-big smile and a full heart.

 

…

 

“It’s about time,” Clint says, sipping on a soda. “I called it.”

 

“You can’t be the one to ‘call it’ if everyone else did,” Sam replies.

 

“There’s a reason we didn’t bet because we would all be betting on the same side,” Natasha chimes in.

 

They were all in the kitchen for lunch, save for Tony who was still in his shop. Steve just informed them of his date with Tony, and to his surprise no one was surprised, but Thor did congratulate him. Loudly, in fact, with a hard pat on the back. He’s hoping to get across to them that he’d like it if they weren’t all causing a ruckus or tearing down the walls during their date. Specifically Thor and Hulk.

 

“Say Cap, is this your first date since nineteen forty-five?” Clint asks.

 

“Ha ha,” Steve deadpans. Then, before taking a long sip from his water bottle, “First date ever, really.”

 

Clint’s eyebrows raise. “You—seriously?”

 

“Yes. There was no time back during the war,” he says, shoving his failed date with Peggy out of his mind. “And then it was just Avengers business once I woke up. And who could I date?”

 

“Fair. Are you gonna go all out?”

 

“Definitely not. I don’t want to scare him off.”

 

“Like you could. He’s Tony.”

 

Steve sighs. “Just please don’t break anything.”

 

“Sure thing, Cap.”

 

…

 

After spending a few hours in the kitchen trying to perfect a meal or two for him and Tony, checking the weather once every five minutes to make sure it wouldn’t rain at all, and spending another fifteen minutes trying on different outfits, he settles on dark jeans and a brown leather jacket to wear over a dark tee. And he gets flowers.

 

He tries not to think about how wrong this could go because he might slip, say or imply something stupid on accident, but he’s never hurt Tony before so why would he now? It might just be first date nerves, so he tries not to let it overwhelm him. He just wants to show Tony a good time.

 

Steve goes to Tony’s floor with his bouquet of flowers and smiles brightly once he sees the man round the corner. “Hey, Tony,” he says. “You look nice.” He does. He’s wearing jeans with a dark red blazer over a tee. He could see the arc reactor glowing through the fabric. He also notices he’s wearing his comm device, like Steve. Just in case.

 

“Why thank you. You look _great_ yourself.” Steve ducks his head in a blush and Tony points to the flowers. “Are those for me?”

 

Steve gives him a look.

 

“Kidding, give em here.” Tony sniffs them and looks up at Steve with a face so radiant Steve wants to kiss him. And he does, on the cheek. When Tony smiles at him, Steve lets a hand fall to Tony’s back and walks them to the elevator.

 

“So, we’re going up.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“Figured a night out on the balcony wouldn’t be so bad.”

 

Once they make their way through the common room over to the doors leading outside, Tony makes note of how empty it is and asks, “I take it the team knows and everyone is secluded in their favorite spots of the tower?”

 

“Yes,” Steve answers with his hand on the door handle. He hesitates, looks back at Tony. “Is that okay?”

 

“More than okay,” Tony reassures. “Better they know rather than keep secrets from them. And I’m not really one for sneaking around.”

 

“They thought it was about time, anyways,” Steve says.

 

“So do I.”

 

Steve takes Tony’s hand and leads him outside.

 

There’s a light breeze, no heavy winds. The sky is an orange shade as the sun sets over the horizon. New York is still alive down below, but the sounds are almost muted all the way up here. “Oh, Steve,” Tony says once he sees what Steve has laid out. There’s a picnic blanket on the floor with a basket and a bottle of wine sitting on top, and candles Steve set up settled around. And there’s a vase filled with water.

 

“C’mon.” Steve motions with his head and a smile, doesn’t let go of Tony’s hand as he leads them to the picnic and they both settle down on either side. “Here,” he says, pushing the vase towards Tony so he could drop the flowers in it.

 

Sitting cross-legged, Tony gestures to everything.  “Did you do this by yourself?”

 

“Yes, I wanted it to be special,” Steve says, opening the wine. “Do you like it?”

 

“I love it, Steve,” Tony says. “Are you nervous?”

 

“A bit.”

 

Tony reaches across to grasp Steve’s hand and run his thumb across. “Don’t be. It’s just me.”

 

It was a relief to hear from him, he thinks. Steve finally lets his shoulder relax for the first time that evening as he pours a drink for himself and Tony. He doesn’t register immediately what happens then, because he finds himself staring at the other man, Tony staring right back with kind eyes and soft look on his face. It makes his chest swell with joy; he’s happy Tony’s happy and he hopes the rest of the night goes this good, so they could do this again.

 

He starts listing off the food items in the basket, opening it to pull out some plates, Tony with his elbow resting on his knee while his chin sits on his hand, listening and watching Steve. And maybe he shouldn’t have let his guard down so easy because one second he’s looking at Tony, ears barely registering the flutter of wind behind him and the next Tony is lunging for him, screaming for him to get down. Steve lands on his back with an _oof,_ Tony braced on top of him, his head leaning back to peer up with a snarl. “Jarvis, suit,” Tony says hurriedly. Steve looks at the spot they were just in and sees nearly everything in flames, two dark ovals burned through the blanket with steam rising.

 

He rises to a kneel, throws his arm out and plants himself protectively in front of Tony. “Hyperion.”

 

“Hello, Captain. Wonderful to see you again.”

 

“Can’t say the same,” Steve says, fists clenched, lifting himself slowly from the ground. He knows he can’t defend himself properly right now, not with Hyperion hovering in the air several feet away. He hears Tony behind him, whispering and ordering the other Avengers outside and to bring the shield. Steve stalls. “What do you want?”

 

“I think it’s always been pretty obvious,” Hyperion states. “I’m here to complete what I never got to finish.”

 

Steve hears the armor piling around Tony behind him. “Really?” Tony says, unimpressed and pissed. The helmet snaps shut. “You had to pick tonight to try and destroy the Avengers?” Tony steps forward to stand beside Steve.

 

“Didn’t mean to interrupt your lovely evening,” Hyperion says, mocking, and Steve wishes he had his shield so he could knock the look off his face. Hyperion hovers lower until he’s standing on the balcony, feet from them. “But now I wish—”’

 

“You’re going to wish you were still in your holding cell if you don’t _give up now,”_ Steve demands, voice low.

 

“You heard him,” Tony says, slowly lifting his repulsors. “Make this easy.”

 

“It’s like you two don’t know me at all,” Hyperion says, eyes heating up and he can barely react before Tony quickly throws himself in between the beams and Steve. Hyperion’s blast blows them backwards, Steve hitting the glass panes and landing somewhere to the side with a loud grunt. Steve’s eyes wander for Tony, finds him trying to recover a mere feet away. Hyperion advances, but not before the sound of an arrow cuts through the air, the target catching it before it hits; it detonates and electricity shocks him back across the balcony.

 

Steve sighs. So much for a lovely night.

 

Tony lifts the facemask up, eyes searching Steve’s face. “You okay?” Steve nods, takes the hand Tony’s offering to help him up. Behind him, Hulk roars and throws himself through the door, Thor right behind, Mjolnir in hand. They stand by, watch as the electricity begins to die down as Hyperion recovers.

 

“Heads up, Cap!” Hawkeye calls from the window above. Steve looks up and catches his shield.

 

“Well, this sucks,” Tony sighs as the eye the mess of their ruined date.

 

“Nothing we can’t handle,” he replies. “Thanks for the save back there.”

 

“That’s my job, pulling you out of the line of fire, right?” Tony says, and despite their situation, his voice makes it seem like everything will be okay.

 

Steve smirks. “In your dreams, Shellhead.”

 

“If you two are done bantering,” Clint says, dropping down to the balcony with Widow and Falcon. “There’s a ticked off alien supervillain right there.”

 

Tony turns to him, drops the face mask. “Call it, Captain.”

 

“Avengers assemble!”

 

…

 

In the end, it’s no surprise that they defeat Hyperion no problem. Steve only wishes it wasn’t at the expense of his and Tony’s night together.

 

The others all show up late to the briefing, but tonight Steve couldn’t care less so he doesn’t ask. Everyone leaves the conference room after discussing the battle, most of them heading the opposite way to their rooms while Tony, Steve, and Clint head to the elevator.

 

“Gonna go down to the shop,” Tony says to him, an invitation that Steve wants nothing more than to take him up on. Stepping into the elevator, Tony says, “Sorry our date was ruined.”

 

Steve shrugs and smiles sadly. “Not your fault. I’ll make it up to you.”

 

Clint clears his throat. “Um, guys,” he says, pressing the button to go up to the common room. “Listen, me and the rest of the team felt really bad that your night was ruined by an alien maniac, and we know the two of you were really looking forward to it, so we all decided to try to, uh, mend the wound.”

 

“You what?” Tony and Steve say at the same time.

 

“Oh, god, just—” The elevator doors open, “—look.”

 

In the living area, the first thing Steve notices are the candles lighting up the room and his mouth opens to ask, but he doesn’t get to it. On the TV, some black and white movie he doesn’t recognize is paused for them and there’s a big box of pizza on the coffee table along with a few unopened beers sitting out. He doesn’t have to ask, he understands. He’s going to stay off his team’s back for at least a week because of this.

 

“You did this?” Tony asks, bewildered. They step out of the elevator.

 

“Well, not just me. Pizza is courtesy of Sam, Nat picked the movie, I got the dollar store candles, and Hulk and Thor set everything up.” Steve nearly laughs at picturing the two biggest people on the team setting all these candles around the room. “It’s not much but—”

 

“Clint,” Tony says simply.

 

Steve takes Tony’s hand. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”

 

“Yeah, don’t mention it,” the archer responds, making a passive gesture. He presses one of the buttons and the doors begin to close. “Have fun. But not too much fun! I like that couch,” and then the doors shut and they were alone.

 

Tony meets his eyes and gestures his free hand to the living space. “Shall we?”

 

They sit shoulder to shoulder on the couch while the movie plays, licking pizza grease off their fingers and sipping at their beers. At some point, Steve slinks an arm around Tony on the couch as the sit and watch the ridiculously entertaining film.

 

Tony says, “Does this count as our first or second date?”

 

“As far as I’m concerned, this is our first.”

 

“Noted.”

 

“I must be cursed or something. I missed a first date because I was frozen for decades and ours got ruined because—”

 

“—of some alien with an ego trip.”

 

“That.”

 

“For what it’s worth,” Tony says, turning his head on Steve’s shoulder to look at him. “I think what you put together was sweet.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“And I’m having a good time now,” he affirms, slowly tilting his face up.

 

“That’s good.” Steve’s eyes fall to Tony’s lips.

 

“We should talk about some other firsts that you might be good at,” Tony whispers.

 

Steve unconsciously leans down. “Like what?”

 

Tony huffs, cups Steve’s cheek, and kisses him. It’s slow and soft and warm and everything Steve’s wanted to do for a long time. The scratch of the goatee is welcomed, and it’s not heated or hurried, they’re simply too tired, but Steve responds with everything in him, rests his hand innocently on Tony’s hip. Tony pulls away and smiles at him, caressing his cheek, and Steve kisses his nose before their mouths return together. They kiss lazily until they grow exhausted, and they’re barely thinking when Steve wraps both his arms around Tony and pulls him down onto the couch with him, reaching for a throw blanket to cover them. Tony curls into Steve, joins their hands on top of his chest, Steve’s cheek pressing against his hair.

 

Steve lifts Tony's hand to press a soft kiss. “G’night, Tony,” he whispers, and they drift to sleep.

 

The next morning, the others wake them by taking pictures and congratulating them on the kind-of-not-really-ruined first date and they all have a good laugh like normal, Steve still feeling bad about what happened, but when he looks over to Tony telling Clint off about something while also thanking all of them, sleepily rubbing at his eyes, and then smiling at Steve like he’s the only one in the room, he knows, deep down, he did something right.

 

**Author's Note:**

> this show is the best thing that ever happened to me 
> 
> yay or nay


End file.
